Who would have thought that your beautiful unicorn latte, a visual delight with an explosion of colours and flavours could contain up to 12 teaspoons of sugar?
The health industry has grave concerns about the rising levels of obesity amongst the millennial generation. According to Cancer Research UK, the millennial generation (people between the ages of 21 and 35 years) are more overweight than any other generation before it.
Although millennials may exercise more, drink less, are less likely to smoke and are more likely to have a gym membership, they are more likely than ever to be overweight.
It is predicted that adults born between the early 1980’s and mid 1990’s are predicted to have a very high chance to be overweight or obese by the time they reach middle age.
Many researchers are linking this rise in obesity to changes in dietary habits and alarmingly high levels of sugar in their diets.
More and more, Instagram and other social media platforms are indorsing foody fads in a bid to increase consumerism. Many millennials do not realise the high levels of sugar in these foods which has a direct link to dental decay. There are countless studies to prove the connection between dietary sugar and dental decay, yet many people are unaware of the volume of sugar in the foods and drinks they are consuming, whether they be naturally occurring sugars ( i.e. fruit juices) or added sugars.
Flavoured coffees; Coffees have seen a huge uptake in consumption of late and although plain, black coffee itself does not contain sugar, coffee companies have come up with new and inventive ways to create new coffee drinks that appeal to millennials. Millennials are drinking more and more coffee due to a variety of different factors, including the explosion of coffee shops, the ability to personalise their coffee and the introduction of coffee pods systems. According to Bloomberg, the unquenchable thirst for coffee is pushing global demand to a record high. Unfortunately, many of these contain extremely high levels of sugar. A unicorn latte, although a vision of beauty, colour, sparkles and glitter, can contain up to 59 grams of sugar, almost 12 teaspoons of sugar . A cinnamon dolce latte from Starbucks contains an unbelievable 50 grams of sugar and 15 grams of fat ( 50 grams of sugar is approx. 12 teaspoons of sugar). Even a non fat iced cinnamon chai latte, contains 45 grams of sugar (11 teaspoons of sugar) with a soy vanilla blended Frappuccino containing an eye watering 91 grams of sugars, that’s over 22 teaspoons of sugar per drinks……that is a lot of sugar……
Soya milk has become a natural alternative to many who do not wish to consume cow’s milk. Soya milk contains added sugar with a 240ml glass of soya milk containing approx. 9gs of sugar which is over 2 teaspoons of sugar!
Flavoured water; In a bid to improve their health, many millennials are turning to flavoured waters. But be careful, while you may feel more virtuous by drinking these vitamin unfused drinks, they can actually contain very high levels of sugar. A 500ml bottle of vitamin water contain between 23-30 g of sugar depending on the flavour, which equates to 6-8 teaspoons of sugar.
So, millennials beware! Become mindful of what you are consuming, check those labels and mind your teeth!